Category archive: Geekdom House Blogs

“Always.” It’s a word that we overuse. (“I always say ‘thank you.’” “You always eat all of the cheese sticks.”) Most people, in reality, don’t do things so consistently.

But when Professor Severus Snape said “always,” not only did he use it correctly, truthfully, and lovingly, he used it in the most perfect way possible. It was a most profound statement that I believe resonated with readers everywhere.

I’ve always had a soft-spot in my heart for supervillains—maybe it’s because of my Catholic upbringing, maybe it’s because I want everyone to be happy, or maybe it’s because deep down I know that under the right (or wrong) conditions, I could have become one myself. No villain has a more special place in my heart than Loki. He’s the god of mischief, and we all know and love mischievous characters (Fred and George, anyone? Jack Sparrow? River Song?). There is something redeeming in their character—something loveable.

Superman treats Bizarro, not like the monster that everyone else sees, but like a child who needs assistance.

If Superman turned on us, we’d be toast. I am not afraid of my hero turning bad because he constantly reveals his gentle nature and compassion for the small, the weak, and the needy. To me, Superman is the embodiment of love because he wills the good of all others—even though he really doesn’t have to.

The most believable lies have an element of truth to them. In the TV series Heroes Reborn, when Erica Kravid told everyone that there was going to be an event that would wipe out almost all life on earth and that she had a plan to save them, she wasn’t lying. There was going to be a cataclysmic event, it was going to wipe out humanity, and she did have a plan to save humanity. She didn’t divulge that her plan didn’t include everyone—or even most people. She only intended to save a few, hand-selected people.

Stories about eternal life on earth abound in sci-fi and fantasy; I think of the Dúnedain from The Lord of the Rings, That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis, many a Star Trek episode, and the list could go on… The Highlander movie and TV series, however, is a favourite of mine. My family will attest to my random singing of “Who Wants to Live Forever”by Queen, or shouting out the catchphrase “there can be only one!” during battles with… well, anyone who will battle me.

The theme of immortality is also a constant in Doctor Who, since the Doctor is essentially immortal. Though there were two recent episodes that dealt with immortality head on—”The Girl Who Died” and “The Woman Who Lived.” In the first episode, a young Viking woman named Ashildr dies to save her village from aliens using a helmet that the Doctor modified. Feeling sad for her poor, grieving father, and perhaps guilty for his part in it, he decides to bring her back to life. He uses a modified microchip (he’s really into modifying alien tech in this episode) to bring her back and gives her a second one to use on someone else so that she will not be alone—because there’s a catch to this remedy—she will be immortal.
“The Woman Who Lived” picks up in Ashildr’s adulthood, several hundred years after her encounter with the Doctor. We find her so jaded, broken, and lonely from the solitude of her immortality (she never did use the second microchip) that she has been living a life of crime.

The second that we got to the train station—before we even parked—I spotted some co-attendees for my first-ever Comic Con. The red cloak and Thor’s hammer were the first things to clue me in. Costumed folk were everywhere on the way to the convention, and as I walked the streets of New York with my husband, we played many rounds of “Cosplay or Everyday?” Some I was able to figure out and some remain inconclusive for me.

My husband and I met the first Godzilla suit actor, Haruo Nakajima, and got his autograph for my son, who has wanted to be a kaiju actor since he was four. Doing that for my son made my day, but seeing the cosplayers, the merchandise booths, the life-sized TARDIS, and the exhibits was amazing—I’d like to do that every year.

But my favourite part was attending a presentation by Scott Snyder (Batman writer), called “DC Entertainment Spotlight on Scott Snyder.” Snyder shared the challenges of writing and all of the rejections he faced before he got anywhere (that was great for me to hear). However, his best insight was when he shared about his vision of Batman.

Who am I? That’s easy, I’m Spock. BuzzFeed says so, so it must be true.
Like many people, I enjoy taking online quizzes—so much so, that they have now begun showing up in the advertisements that pop into my Facebook feed. It still freaks me out a bit that they are tailored to my particular interests, but not enough for me not to take them. Through these quizzes, I have discovered that I should live in England, Rivendell, the Shire, the Victorian period—or the 80’s—and own a cottage in the woods. I have found out that if I was an Avenger I’d be Captain America (no brainer), if I was a companion of The Doctor I’d be Rory (maybe), if I was a character from a Jane Austen novel I’d be Fanny Price (wrong! I’m an Elizabeth Bennett all the way), If I was a Star Trek character I’d be Spock (absolutely), if I was a LOTR character I’d be Merry (not sure about that one) and if I was a character on Big Bang Theory I’d be Sheldon (that’s true).

In The Lord of the Rings, there are two characters who lose their names. Their names are stolen from them, really. Stolen by that thief, lust.
That poor, little dude Smeagol is the first of lust’s victims. Smeagol is the embodiment of lust. The way the power of the Ring works on him is so clear, so apparent, he should be under the definition of lust in the dictionary. It’s downright obvious.
And sometimes lust is downright obvious. Smeagol becomes Gollum almost instantly. His lust is so transformative, he kills his best friend within minutes of finding the Ring. His lust is so revolting that it serves as an immediate warning for anyone who meets him.
More often, however, I think lust is subtle, more deviously sneaky—and that’s when it is the most dangerous.
Both Gollum and Wormtongue lose themselves so completely to lust that they become someone else.
Take our second character, Grima, for instance. He’s slimy, he’s creepy, and he makes no bones about what he wants. Like Gollum, by the time we meet him, it’s clear what he’s about and nobody likes or trusts him… except for King Theoden.

When I was a kid, my dream job (besides working for The Peace Corps) was to write for a show called Mad Movies. If you’re old like me, you might have seen this show on Nickelodeon in the 80’s. The show was old movies with new soundtracks dubbed over them to make them hilarious. I thought making fun of old movies would be an awesome job; that’s what I wanted to do that with my life. You know… or work for the Peace Corps…

Well, I didn’t do either. I wound up working for the Catholic Church. Though I teach and write a lot, and both of these venues necessarily include humour.

When I was in high school another show came into my view: Mystery Science Theater 3000. It was like Mad Movies, but with robots! And you get to hear the original dialogue, which is often as funny as what the guys added. Many of the jokes become staple phrases in my home, and my family watches episodes on YouTube together as often as we can.

My younger son recently said, “Oh no…I’m growing up to be Torgo.” (Don’t ask me why—I can’t remember and I probably forgot on purpose.) Both of my boys periodically approach me awkwardly reaching for my hair while humming the Torgo Theme. We are all in agreement that The Master would not approve of most of the things that happen in our home. When I ask the kids a question, the answer is often a whiny, “I don’t know!” in the style of Zap Rowsdower. And, even though they haven’t seen “Devil Fish” yet, they know that when I sing the modified “Juicy Fruit” theme, that it’s from there. I enjoy having been able to share MST3K with my children, even if it means that, since we’ve started watching them together, it’s inspired my little peanut gallery to comment on every TV show or movie that we watch.

Humans are funny. On one hand, we want to avoid any kind of vulnerability at all costs. We don’t like to fail, be judged, or show any imperfection. We guard our appearance because we don’t want to look old, or fat, or out of style. Consider the amount of makeup ladies wear; consider Spanks or Just For Men hair coloring. And that’s just physical vulnerability—when we mess up, we immediately look for excuses—someone or something else to blame. We will go through all kinds of elaborate schemes to avoid feeling uncomfortable, uncertain or hurt.

On the other hand, we would fight to the death for our right to be imperfect, vulnerable and broken. We do it in personal relationships and as a species. And, as is reflected in our preference for stories that support and identify with our ways of thinking and feeling—we love stories where we are victorious over those who would take away our individuality, diversity, autonomy—our right to make our own mistakes and be vulnerable.